"Ok boys and girls." Samuel Cross called to the other officers in the squad car he was driving. "We have a major disturbance in the middle of town, no facts of yet, but the Chief wants the area sealed off five minutes ago. That's what we'll be doing. Toombs and Michaels, you guys seal off Quartz Street as far a 5th Avenue. No one allowed in, you got that?" He looked in the mirror for the officers responses.
"Yes sergeant."
"Alright. This is your first emergency where I'm not gona be around to hold your hands, but just remember your training and keep any civilians back. Catalina?" He turned to the Latino woman riding shotgun. She turned to him, inclining her head.
"You and I are gona seal off Quartz up to 9th."
"Who's dealing with the emergency then?" She asked, turning her gaze back to the side window.
"Don't know yet, I'll guess Lieutenant MacArthur is standing by."
Officer Eric Toombs called from the back seat.
"Lieutenant who?"
"McArthur. He's the boss man of the SPF, you not met him yet?"
"Nope, what's he like?"
Cross was interrupted by Catalina.
"You know action man? Think that, but smaller, and Canadian."
Cross chuckled to himself as they neared the incident site.
Five patrol cars were already at the site, their officers aiming their guns at the corner building of Quartz and seventh. They piled out, and Toombs and Michaels immediately began ushering the gathered civilians backwards. Cross and Catalina headed through the gathered Police officers, aiming for the civilians on the other side.
"Sergeant." Cross turned, seeing his plain clothed boss standing with a radio beside an unmarked car. He called to Catalina,
"I'll catch you up." And headed over to Bill.
"Sir? What's going on?"
"Five employees inside. Six gunshots heard about twenty minutes ago, nothing since then. No ransom demands, no screams, nothing."
"What is this place?"
"Umbrella storage facility. Normally there are 10 employees inside, but we got five of them out here. They were on a delivery apparently." He glanced suspiciously at the men in white chemical suits nearby.
"SPF on the way?"
Bill sighed.
"Chief says they aren't needed. I'm talking to Kaynen at the minute, but no luck so far, his hands are tied, and the chief gave him strict orders to remain at the station. Apparently, we're gona have to deal with this."
"Where is the chief?"
"He showed up, looked around, said he was heading to city hall. Also said he still had operational command, though how the fuck he's supposed to do that from city hall is lost to me."
"Has he given any orders?"
"No, other than, we need to get in there. Kaynen can't help us, so we're gona have to do this with our sidearms. Not exactly ideal."
"I'll go in if you want sir."
"Yeah, looks like you'll have to. Take Dennis, Alex, Ed and David. Be careful; normally I wouldn't press forward without any information, but by the looks of things, we're not gona get any more."
"Understood sir, we'll be careful."
As they headed into the reception area, Cross instantly knew something was wrong. There was blood smeared all over what was presumably the receptionist's desk. He signalled to the towering Alex Pressman to check it out. The shotgun seemed tiny in his gigantic hands as he peered around the desk.
"Nothing. More blood just."
"Alright, let's press on."
They entered a large storage room. Large shelving units were arranged in rows across the room, casting deep dark shadows.
"Eyes open, keep moving."
As they headed further, a peculiar noise became ever more evident. Like someone was gagging and chewing at the same time. Alex took point, scanning in front of them with his shotgun. Cross, immediately behind him, noticed the giant's light blue police shirt darken with sweat. Christ, Samuel thought, if Alex is scared, why haven't the rest of us shit ourselves yet?
As they reached the end of the shelves, they found the source of the noise. A pale-skinned man was staring wide-eyed at them from where he was slumped up against the wall.
"Are you…?" Alex began.
The man's head slowly rolled to the side as blood cascaded from his neck down his shirt, forming a pool of the dark liquid on the floor. He emitted a low groan, crawling to his feet. Another head poked out from behind the nearest shelves, groaned like the first one and lurched towards them.
